The Comfort of Walnut Cake
by MandaPanda2
Summary: He nodded, realizing for the first time that her parents, who had caused him so much grief in the few short months he'd known them, were just people. (Part II of the "Master Plan" series)


Disclaimer: All characters (unless otherwise specified) belong to Aaron Spelling, E. Duke Vincent, Gary Tomlin, NBC, et al and are used here strictly for non-profit entertainment purposes.  
Rating: PG  
Genre: Drama  
Spoilers: Everything through the 150's and Gregory's "master plan"  
Summary: He nodded, realizing for the first time that her parents, who had caused him so much grief in the few short months he'd known them, were just people. (Part II of the "Master Plan" series)

* * *

"_Caity? Sean?" _

Cole grimaced as Gregory's bellow echoed through the ground floor of One Ocean Avenue. With a reluctant sigh, he stood and followed Caitlin through the dining room and into the kitchen. He lingered in the corner by the refrigerator and glanced around as Gregory greeted his children. This wasn't a room in the house he visited often. In fact, in all the months he'd known his girlfriend, this was the first time he'd ever seen the family in there. He chuckled to himself, correctly pegging the Richards family as the type who left the kitchen to the servants while they claimed the rest of the house. "What's so funny?" Caitlin asked as she pulled open the refrigerator door.

Everything. Everything was hilarious. A handful of days ago, Gregory had seemingly welcomed him into his illustrious family. With Olivia nodding her agreement, he even encouraged Cole to come and go from the oceanfront mansion as he pleased. How Caitlin couldn't see the humor in this farce was _beyond_ him. Her father was devious incarnate and her mother... _Well_. He knew Olivia far more intimately than anyone suspected and had the most to lose because of it. And now, here he was on a Friday night, spending the evening with Caitlin and her family, playing the part of the dutiful son-in-law. Almost. "Cole?" he heard her ask, her hand lightly resting on his shoulder.

He sighed, forcing a smile. For her, he would play nice. "Nothing, really," he lied, taking the crystal pitcher of lemon-infused water from her. "Let me get that."

Caitlin beamed and stood on her toes, kissing his cheek. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear, her arms draped around his neck. "I know this isn't how you wanted to spend tonight. But, this is a rough day for Mom and I want to be here for her."

He allowed himself another internal sigh as he followed her over to the large table. How could you argue with that? Gregory glanced up from scrolling through his mobile phone and nodded, offering him a curt, "Cole." Only her father could mutter someone's name and consider it a greeting.

As he opened his mouth to reply, a series of melodic chimes rippled through the house. "I'll get it," Sean said, turning to his father. "It's probably the food." In a flash, Gregory's American Express card changed hands and the teenager disappeared from the room.

"Daddy, what time should Mom be home?"

"Any minute," he murmured, snapping his phone shut. "I called her secretary as I was leaving my office. Jane said she was finishing up with a meeting."

Caitlin nodded, tossing her long blond hair over her shoulder. She leaned against him and he immediately wrapped his arms around her. "Gosh, I'm so hungry," she whispered, angling her head up to look at him. Gregory wasn't paying them any attention as he rifled through the sports section of the morning paper. She grinned and asked softly, "Will you still love me when I'm as big as a house?"

"Definitely," he replied quietly as she giggled.

"Make way for Great Wall," Sean announced as he carried a large cardboard box through the kitchen.

"Finally," Caitlin exclaimed as she untangled herself from Cole's embrace. "I hope you ordered enough spring rolls, Sean. Daddy and Cole both like them." Well, wasn't that great, Cole thought to himself. He and Gregory could bond over spring rolls while on the fast track to friendship. A loud rumble interrupted Sean's reply as Caitlin looked up sharply. "It's Mom!"

Cole watched as Gregory strode over to the door in the corner that led to the garage and opened it. The sound of the automatic garage door was immediately louder, oddly harmonious with the powerful engine of Olivia's Jaguar. A moment later, everything fell quiet before he heard a car door slam. "Well, hello!" he heard her call out. Gregory was framed in the open door way, his suit coat off and his shirt sleeves rolled up. "This is the first time I've beaten you home in _months_," he heard Gregory reply and he was surprised to hear the teasing tone in his voice.

"Here," Caitlin murmured, passing him several cartons of Chinese delivery. "Can you put those on the table for me?"

"Sure," he said simply. Cashew chicken, beef something or other, and mixed vegetables, he thought, guessing from the aromas competing for his attention. As he placed them on the table, he looked up as Olivia walked into the kitchen from the garage. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw him and he nodded slightly before she turned away. "What is all this?" he heard her ask, not able to miss the way her eyes lit up when she saw her children. Quietly, he watched her turn back to Gregory as he simply replied, "Dinner."

He watched Olivia smile as she was swept into her husband's embrace, his hands cupping her face as he kissed her. A moment later, Gregory leaned in, whispering something in her ear that made her smile wilt. She looked up silently for a long moment, their gazes locked before she reached up and gently stroked the side of his face. Cole flinched and quickly looked away, struck by the quiet intimacy of the scene he just witnessed. He glanced at Caitlin and Sean, who didn't appear fazed by their parents as they brought the remainder of the Chinese food over. When he looked up, Gregory's hands were on Olivia's shoulders as he guided her to the table. She met Cole's gaze as she murmured a greeting before giving a more enthusiastic one to her children. Cole really wasn't that surprised. In fact, he wasn't sure he would ever live to see the day when Olivia didn't flinch when they encountered each other.

* * *

It may have been due to his low expectations, but the dinner went surprisingly well. In an odd way, the different personalities of the quintet was what made it work. Caitlin chatted amiably with everyone, dancing between discussion of their own weekend plans and her father's sports talk. Personally, he was most surprised by Gregory and Sean. The two sat side-by-side, engrossed in a serious conversation about the Yankees' current season. Apparently, their hopes were high coming off of last season's World Series win. Cole wasn't a baseball fan, so he had little to contribute. Instead, he sat back, observing the dynamic of father and son. From what Caitlin had said, they weren't close. Yet, here they were, batting statistics and trivia off one and other like there wasn't a rift between them. Caitlin seemed pleased with how things were going for them, judging by the delighted expression on her face. She seemed a polar opposite to Olivia, who sat quietly next to Gregory and lazily pushed her uneaten dinner around her plate.

"We'll take a look at my case load and plan which games we'll be able to go to," he heard Gregory say. He reached over and draped his arm over the back of Olivia's chair. "Of course, we'll probably have to drag your mother out of the radio station if we expect her to join us."

Cole watched Olivia look up, a small smile blossoming on her face. "Says the man who disappeared into his study for three months during the Mulwray case and didn't resurface until the 'not guilty' verdict," she said and Gregory grinned, a surprising sight.

"What was the Mulwray case?" he asked, glancing around the table.

Caitlin giggled and swallowed, gesturing to her father with her empty fork. "One of Daddy's cases from a couple of years ago. Faye Mulwray shot her husband's mistress. Daddy argued the mistress was trying to kill her and that she shot her in self-defense."

"But, was she? Trying to kill her?"

Gregory cleared his throat, his fingers dancing against his wife's shoulder. "The jury was convinced of it by the time I got through with them," he said quietly. Naturally, Cole thought. Gregory Richards could sell snow to the Russians and still make a profit. He watched him turn to his wife and ask, "So, what do you think? A week in New York this summer?"

As Olivia opened her mouth to reply, he saw Caitlin sit up sharply. "But, Daddy," she exclaimed, "Mom can't fly! Not in her condition."

Cole watched curiously as an odd look danced across Gregory's face before he quickly glanced at his wife. For her part, Olivia looked down at her lap for a long moment before she exhaled deeply. "Caitlin's right," she said softly. "Dr. Robinson said this pregnancy is already high-risk because of my age. Airplane travel is out of the question."

"Of course," Gregory said slowly and Cole couldn't understand his mysteriously blank tone. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I was being thoughtless."

And, for the first time that evening, an awkward silence descended over the table. Cole set his fork aside, glancing between Gregory and his wife. Olivia's eyes burned holes into her plate as Gregory cleared his throat and caught his daughter's gaze. Next to him, Caitlin sat up and nodded. "Is everyone finished with dinner?" she asked. "Who wants dessert?"

As Gregory and Sean replied in unison, Cole saw Olivia look up in surprise. "Dessert, Gregory?" she asked, a surprisingly playful tone infused in her question. "Since when?"

As Caitlin disappeared from the table, Gregory leaned in next to his wife and whispered a reply that Cole couldn't make out. She chuckled as he wrapped his arm around her. Cole watched as they sat back in unison, Olivia nestled quietly in her husband's embrace. Behind them, Caitlin bustled around the kitchen, the cabinets opening and closing.

Cole sighed and looked over his shoulder as she passed her brother the smaller plates and forks and turned away again. "Do you need help?" he called out, as she turned back around, carefully holding a cake platter. She shook her head and neared the table, clearing her throat. "Surprise, Mom," he heard her say proudly, the syllables adopting a sing-song quality. He watched as Olivia gasped, her hands flying to her mouth as Caitlin set the glass platter on the table. Silently, he watched their eyes meet, blue on blue as Olivia's filled with tears. "Sean and I made Nana's iced walnut cake. Your favorite."

"Oh my..." Olivia sighed. Cole leaned forward, watching as Gregory's hand rested in the middle of his wife's back. She turned to her husband, who smiled kindly and looked back up at their children. "You two made this?" she marveled, following his gaze up.

Sean nodded and piped up, "I mean, Rose had to supervise, but Cait and I followed Nana's recipe exactly."

Cole watched as Olivia gazed at the two layer cake, completely speechless. A kaleidoscope of emotions spun across her face for several long moments. Until Caitlin mentioned her late grandmother earlier in the day, he hadn't given much thought to her extended family. He had no reason to. Her parents were enough to deal with. But, he wasn't blind to the fact that her dead grandparents, Olivia's parents, were important to her. And, by the looks of it, they were important to the entire family.

Olivia blinked. "I'm so proud of you both. Nana would have been too." It was impossible to miss how constricted her words were, the way she struggled to speak. He watched her turn to Gregory, a strained smile on her face as he cupped her cheek. She shook her head and leaned against him as Cole looked up at Caitlin, watching her blink back tears.

Not surprisingly, it was Gregory who came to his distraught wife's rescue as she lowered her head. "Surely we told you about the first time I had your grandmother's walnut cake?" Cole marveled at the instantaneous transformation. Caitlin and Sean grinned, suggesting they _did_ know this story.

Olivia snorted and chuckled, sitting up as she wiped her eyes. "When your father cut himself a _huge_ piece and didn't realize that Nana was saving it for the bazaar at Poppop's school the next day," he heard her explain as her husband chuckled.

Caitlin and Sean returned to their seats, his girlfriend's fingers threading through his. Perhaps because of his own broken family history, Cole found himself drawn to the story. The way Gregory and Olivia alternated telling it, their words running into each other's. The way it was easy to imagine the reaction of Olivia's mother as she discovered Gregory devouring her cake. It certainly sounded as though Barbara Blake was one of the few people unafraid of speaking their mind to Gregory. Cole liked her already.

"Then," Gregory concluded, gesturing grandly, "Barbara looked at me with that withering stare of hers and said, 'Well, Gregory, at least tell me it was the best cake you ever had the privilege of totally and utterly spoiling'." As they all laughed, Cole watched as Gregory smiled tenderly at his wife. "And, of course, it _was_."

Caitlin turned to him, smiling proudly. "Nana was an amazing cook," she explained. "There was nothing she couldn't do in the kitchen."

"Except teach me to cook," Olivia murmured, rolling her eyes at the amused laughter that erupted around her. "But, oh, how she _tried_."

"She sounds like a wonderful person," he admitted softly, desperately wanting something to contribute. He slowly met Olivia's eyes from across the table, watching as her face softened. Her blue eyes were glazed over with sadness as a small, but grateful, smile came to her face.

"She was," he heard Gregory agree as he took his wife's hand and squeezed it gently.

She looked over, gracing him with a brief smile before she turned back to the cake. "Well," she said, clearing her throat as she looked around the table, "who wants to do the honors?"

After a brief moment of silence, Sean nudged the cake knife across the table to his mother. "You do it, Liv," he heard Gregory say quietly.

Cole watched as Olivia sliced into the cake with a trembling hand, the buttery cake cutting neatly. A moment later, slices were portioned out and sent around the table on delicate china plates edged with rose petals. He watched as Olivia held up a forkful of walnut cake and sighed. "To Mummy."

"To Nana," Caitlin and Sean said in unison.

With quiet interest, Cole watched as Gregory turned to his wife and gazed at her for a long moment. "To Barbara," he finally said, "whom I'm forever grateful to because she gave me you." Olivia's fork gently tapped the plate as she set it down and reached for her husband's cheek. Cole forced his eyes down as Gregory turned his face into her hand and kissed her palm.

"You know what I want?" he heard Caitlin ask quietly. She leaned in against him, her breath warm against his ear as she whispered, "I never want to lose this feeling. We're all happy and together. I wish it could last forever."

Slowly, his hand reached down and, while Gregory wasn't looking, he let his fingertips dance across Caitlin's stomach. He nodded, realizing for the first time that her parents, who had caused him so much grief in the few short months he'd known them, were just people. And, maybe not completely awful people like he first thought. But, people who had the power to be surprisingly genuine. "It will," he whispered, leaning in to kiss her lips. "Our little peanut will make it forever."

In that moment, he believed it.

THE END.


End file.
